I lived up to that stereotype today; your walking friend, that utters the words “it’s not far now”, “just around the next bend”, “one more hill to go” – the biggest liar in your friend group. Had I fully disclosed the distance today, I think my mum would have taken the bus!
We set off from Worting just after 8am, following an old Roman road that seemed to act as a dam to new housing estates leading out of Basingstoke.
The forecasted morning of overcast skies never materialised, the Sun was cheering us on for most of the day.
After 3km, we got our first corner, crossing over the motorway and finally leaving Basingstoke to enter the small village of ‘Dummer’. We aimed for ‘The Queen Inn’ to collect the stamp and a cold drink.
Crossing the car park it was all in darkness, with a patio set outside the entrance. We plonked our bags down and munched on our snacks. Shortly after, a chap doing some maintenance on the pub appeared.
He pointed us to a box at the front for the stamp, for such occasions, neatly packed in an OS map decorated container. So if you ever find yourself here, you now know where to look.
The next stop was Preston Candover, 5km over farm tracks and overgrown trails. Horse flies kept nose diving for my legs, luckily only one managed to get a nibble, my frantic wafting kept the rest at bay.
We stopped for a short refreshment break at the community run store to the village, then pressed on.
It was a bit of road walking until the route turns off into a field of wheat, hugging the hedgerow boundary. You need keen eyes to spot the gap in the hedge. The sign post was missing, and the marker was secured by a stone on top of yellow bricks, hidden in the long grass.
Through a few more wheat fields and we reached the country lane into ‘Upper Wield’. We took a break on a bench in the village, basking in the Sun.
A large section of road walking followed before turning off along a shaded path that stretched out for a couple of kilometres before the final legs into Alresford.
The weather began to change and after stopping for the stamp St. Mary’s, it began to rain, thankfully only lightly.
The last little bit into the village centre was up hill, to complete a 29.2km stage. My mum made it all the way; only the cost is, I doubt she will believe me when I say “nearly there”.
Stu's Camino 